A government panel evaluating Japan’s nuclear energy program has released a draft report, recommending that a third-party entity be created to monitor nuclear regulation in Japan. Membership of the committee would be subject to approval by parliament and would operate separately from the new nuclear regulatory agency.

Kansai Electric has released estimates that safety efforts designed to protect nuclear power plants in Fukui Prefecture from natural disasters will cost the utility approximately 200 billion yen. Original estimates were calculated at only 70 billion yen.

TEPCO

This week, lawyers for Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) argued that “radioactive materials (such as cesium) that scattered and fell from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant belong to individual landowners there, not TEPCO.” The utility was trying to defend itself in court proceedings after owners of a golf course near the crippled plant charged that they could not continue operations because of safety risks to employees. In November, grass samples on the course measured 235,000 Bq/kg of cesium; radioactive strontium was measured at 98 Bq/kg. The court rejected TEPCO’s claim, but said that cleanup should be the responsibility of local municipalities, not the utility. Lawyers are appealing the decision, but experts say that if the ruling stands, local governments may be bankrupted by decontamination costs.

TEPCO has received 120 billion yen from a government nuclear insurance program, which will be used to compensate victims of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. These funds are in addition to a 588.7 billion yen injection of funds from a different government entity.

TEPCO predicts that even with all of its reactors offline, the country should not experience rolling blackouts or power shortages next summer.

Power Company Corruption and Scandals

Saga Prefecture government officials have admitted that they were aware that executives from Kyushu Electric Power Company asked their employees to express support for a pluthermal power project at the company’s Genkai plant in 2005.